According to the latest guidance from the Project Management Institute (PMI), the PMP exam starting in July 2026 includes the following structure and break schedule:

• Case-study section
• Optional 10-minute break
• Independent question section (first half)
• Optional 10-minute break
• Independent question section (second half)
• Exam End

PMI also confirmed the following:

• The total exam time is 240 minutes
• The exam contains 180 questions
• The tutorial and post-exam survey are not included in the 240 minutes
• Once you begin a break, you cannot return to the previous section of the exam

To align The PMP Exam Simulator with this updated PMP exam structure, the duration of all exams in our new simulator has been increased from 240 minutes to 260 minutes (*).

In addition, each time you start an exam, a message is displayed encouraging you to take your two optional 10-minute breaks at the appropriate points during the exam.

Please note that time management of these two breaks is 100% handled by the exam taker. The simulator does not provide any automated break support or reminders during the exam itself.

Here is how this works when you take an exam:

• You start PMP Exam 1
• A message is displayed reminding you to take two optional 10-minute breaks
• The exam countdown time begins at 260 minutes (*)
• The rest is up to you. You must remember yourself when to take the breaks. The simulator will not pause automatically and will not remind you during the exam.

This means that in the simulator (unlike on the real PMP exam) any break time you do not use is available to you for answering questions. However, we strongly recommend that you schedule and take both full 10-minute breaks in order to closely simulate the real testing experience.

Please let me know if you have any questions by replying to this message in our forum.

(*) The total time will actually be 261 minutes due to a rounding difference in the simulator software.